BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 219 
Anas Atseota, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 199.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 867. 
Anas BucEPHALA, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 200; Anas RusTICca, p. 201. 
BurreL-HEADED Duck, Anas AtBEota, Wilson, American Ornith. vol. viii. p. 51, 
pl. 67, fig. 2, 3. 
Fuxrieguta ALBEota, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of United States, p. 394. 
Cianeuta AtBEoxa, Spirit Ducx, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. 
ii, p, 458, 
Spirit Ducx, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 445. 
Adult Male. Plate CCCXXV. Fig. 1. 
Bill much shorter than the head, comparatively narrow, deeper than 
broad at the base, gradually depressed towards the end, which isrounded. 
Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and sloping to the mid- 
dle, then nearly straight, at the end decurved ; the ridge broad and 
flat at the base, narrowed between the nostrils, convex towards the end, 
the sides convex, the edges soft, with about thirty-five lamelle, the un- 
guis oblong. Nostrils submedial, linear, pervious, nearer the ridge 
than the margin. Lower mandible flat, ascending, curved at the base, 
the angle long, rather narrow, the dorsal line very slightly convex, the 
edges with about forty lamelle, the unguis broadly elliptical. 
Head rather large, compressed. . Eyes of moderate size. Neck 
short and thick. Body compact, depressed. Feet very short, placed 
far back ; tarsus very short, compressed, having anteriorly in its whole 
length a series of small scutella, and above the outer toe a few broad 
scales, the rest covered with reticular angular scales. Hind toe very 
small, with a free membrane beneath; anterior toes longer than the 
tarsus, connected by reticulated membranes, having a sinus on their 
free margins, the inner with a narrow lobed marginal membrane, the 
outer with a thickened edge, the third and fourth about equal and 
longest, all covered above with numerous narrow scutella. Claws small, 
slightly arched, obtuse, that of first toe very small, of third largest, and 
with an inner thin edge. 
Plumage dense, soft and blended. Feathers on the fore part of the 
head very small and rounded, on the upper and hind parts linear and 
elongated, as they also are on the lateral and hind parts of the upper 
neck, so that when raised, they give the head an extremely tumid ap- 
pearance, which is the more marked that the feathers of the neck im- 
mediately beneath are short. Wings very small, decurved, pointed ; 
the outer primaries pointed, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated ; 
